I hate propaganda. I would love to live in a world where misinformation didn’t exist and all surveys and research were totally unbiased. Unfortunately, the world is heading in the complete opposite direction.
Today’s post uses a survey conducted by Data for Progress to illustrate everything that is wrong with the process. The survey’s stated intention is to understand public attitudes on residential solar. Most of the results were useless, except that there was 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲 that should alarm the climate community.
I gleaned more valuable information from the article – that wasn’t really an article at all – that covered the survey. It was written by a Data for Progress intern so it was more akin to a press releases. I discovered it because it was included in one of my feeds – Solar Wakeup – which featured it in its daily email. I have found Solar Wakeup to generally be a good source of information. I wish they had opted not to highlight this survey.
The “article” noted that there was a 26% drop in solar rooftop installations nationwide in 2024. It also noted that during the first half of the year residential solar installations declined in 41 states. The drop is likely due to policy changes that are reducing net-metering compensation, particularly in California.
Perhaps that’s why the survey’s authors made a number of curios choices in how they structured it.
The moral of the story: reader beware. Do your homework because a far too high percentage of what you read is pure BS.
#rooftopsolar #residentialsolar #netmetering #solareneregy #solar #solarinstallation
